:00:00. > :00:04.summer. Now, it is time for Meet The Author,
:00:04. > :00:09.with Nick Hyams. with Nick Hyams.
:00:09. > :00:13.Mindy Budgor was a self—styled plump, white, Gucci wearing Jewish
:00:13. > :00:18.princess from California when, at the age of 26, waiting to hear she
:00:18. > :00:23.—— if she had a place at business school, she went to Kenya to train
:00:23. > :00:29.as the world's first Maasai warrior. She tells the story in her book,
:00:29. > :00:34.Warrior Princess. As one reviewer said, not your average gap year
:00:34. > :00:35.memoir. We invited her to a studio in New York, where she now lives, so
:00:35. > :00:40.we could meet the author. we could meet the author.
:00:40. > :00:43.Mindy Budgor, for those who don't Mindy Budgor, for those who don't
:00:43. > :00:52.know, very briefly, who are the Maasai? The Maasai are a tribe in
:00:52. > :00:55.Kenya, in Tanzania, and they are seminomadic, they live amongst the
:00:55. > :01:02.Lions and the elements and with electricity and just completely at
:01:02. > :01:05.one with the land and the animals. They are herders, they keep goats
:01:05. > :01:15.and cattle. But they're way of life is under threat, isn't it? It is.
:01:15. > :01:17.The Kenyan Government is taking away more and more of their land and
:01:17. > :01:20.to droughts, their cattle are dying, to droughts, their
:01:20. > :01:26.people in the tribe dying, and if which is their main asset,
:01:26. > :01:31.people in the tribe dying, and if you speak with people in the tribe,
:01:31. > :01:38.they actually believe that their tribe may not exist in about 20
:01:38. > :01:44.why you came to be training with why you came to be training with
:01:44. > :01:52.them to be a female warrior, or moron, but tell me first of all what
:01:52. > :01:56.out into the bush and ate a lot of out into the bush and ate a lot of
:01:56. > :02:01.goat. Yes, a lot of goat and a lot of cow, so in order to be a moran,
:02:01. > :02:03.it is kind of like their military, you have got to be able to protect
:02:03. > :02:10.your community against any type of your community against any type of
:02:10. > :02:14.conflict with another tribe and any animals that might pose a threat,
:02:14. > :02:19.elephants and lions and Buffalo, elephants and lions and Buffalo,
:02:19. > :02:25.because they live right out in the same area as all of these animals,
:02:25. > :02:28.so the rites of passage in order to become a moran is the one that I
:02:28. > :02:31.went through, you have to prove that went through, you have to prove
:02:31. > :02:34.you are strong and brave enough to you are strong and brave enough to
:02:34. > :02:44.be a warrior, and I lived just in the forest, only eating what I could
:02:44. > :02:46.kill, and improving day by day dash and proving day by day that I was
:02:46. > :02:49.strong enough to protect Mike strong enough to protect Mike
:02:49. > :02:56.immunity against these animals. Some of the details really stuck with me.
:02:56. > :03:00.There is a detail of one of your fellow morans sitting under a branch
:03:00. > :03:02.on which is hanging a lot of raw goat meat. You sleep under that and
:03:02. > :03:04.there is a reason for that. Yes, we there is a reason for that. Yes, we
:03:04. > :03:11.sleep under our meat because if an sleep under our meat because if an
:03:11. > :03:17.animal will come, like a leopard or a hyena, we weep to be able to
:03:17. > :03:20.protect our food —— we need to be able to. So we sleep directly under
:03:20. > :03:28.this? I come from a pretty this? I come from a pretty
:03:28. > :03:30.conservative family and my family wanted me or told me that I needed
:03:30. > :03:37.to be a doctor, but that isn't what to be a doctor, but that isn't what
:03:37. > :03:42.started a business, I ended up college
:03:42. > :03:46.selling it and got into a position selling it and got into a position
:03:46. > :03:49.where my parents came to me again and said, now it is time for you to
:03:49. > :03:53.take a corporate job and settle down, put your head down and focus
:03:53. > :03:56.and just that is what you're going to do, that is your trajectory. And
:03:56. > :04:10.had a lot of anxiety, and the at that point,
:04:10. > :04:16.had a lot of anxiety, and the anxiety came from the feeling
:04:16. > :04:22.position, I was going to be stuck waking up every day not wanting to
:04:22. > :04:28.conquer it, and so I decided to quit. Lots of people quit, though,
:04:28. > :04:34.because they are unhappy in jobs like that. Not many go to Kenya, out
:04:34. > :04:36.into the bush and spend weeks with these guys are learning to live as
:04:36. > :04:42.they do. Right. Well, I was they do. Right. Well, I was
:04:42. > :04:47.volunteering. I ended up going on a volunteer trip to help build a
:04:47. > :04:52.clinic at that and became very close with one of the cheeks. His name was
:04:52. > :04:57.Winston —— one of the chiefs. This was my first exposure to the
:04:57. > :05:00.Warriors. The second I landed, I saw these very strong African men,
:05:00. > :05:04.walking into a forest with a spear and a sword and I thought, gosh,
:05:04. > :05:08.there are lions and elephants in there and yet they are walking with
:05:08. > :05:12.complete and utter confidence. And I felt that if I could even have 1% of
:05:12. > :05:17.that warrior perspective, I would be in a more authentic place in my
:05:17. > :05:20.life. And over the next two weeks when I was building the clinic, I
:05:20. > :05:23.became very close with Winston and randomly one day I asked how many
:05:23. > :05:26.women were Warriors and he said non—, women are not strong enough or
:05:26. > :05:33.brave enough to become warriors, and I said, excuse me? And he said, it
:05:33. > :05:37.is true, women are not strong or brave enough to do what we do and he
:05:37. > :05:41.told me the rites of passage and I said that is something a woman can
:05:41. > :05:48.without Trail mix and Chaucer the OK, fine, if you are able to live
:05:48. > :05:48.without Trail mix and Chaucer the letters —— your stilettos, I will
:05:48. > :05:52.take you through the rites of letters —— your stilettos, I will
:05:52. > :05:55.passage. Later that day, a woman passage. Later that day, a woman
:05:55. > :05:57.named Faith came up to me and said, I hear you want to become a warrior,
:05:57. > :06:01.and I said I did, and she said, I hear you want to become a warrior,
:06:01. > :06:06.hope you are serious because women in my tribe have wanted to do this
:06:06. > :06:07.for generations and if for some reason you have the ability to get
:06:07. > :06:10.this done, I hope you take it reason you have the ability to get
:06:10. > :06:13.this done, I hope you take it seriously. What do you say to those
:06:13. > :06:20.extreme case a rich western going on extreme case a rich western going
:06:20. > :06:28.a bit of adventure to resume? —— westerner. Well, I would say that
:06:28. > :06:40.wanted this, and they asked me to take a chance and to do this, and so
:06:40. > :06:47.it is coming from the tribe, it is not coming from me. And since I was
:06:47. > :06:50.inducted into their tribe and became the first female warrior, the tribe
:06:50. > :06:54.has decided to take it upon has decided to take it upon
:06:54. > :07:00.themselves to work to change a law to allow girls to become warriors,
:07:00. > :07:03.so that is not me putting my spear in the ground and saying, this is
:07:03. > :07:04.something that you need to do, this is something that is coming directly
:07:04. > :07:08.from the tribe. So I think that from the tribe. So I think that is
:07:08. > :07:14.probably what my response would probably what my response would be.
:07:14. > :07:21.Would you go back? I am going back, I am going back in January to climb
:07:21. > :07:28.Kilimanjaro, with at least 5—10 girls, who are going to become part
:07:28. > :07:30.of the first warrior class, Maasai girls, and I am extremely excited to
:07:30. > :07:34.go back and see my tribe and it will go back and see my tribe and it will
:07:34. > :07:35.just be very